ABOUT THIS ALBUM

"On its first step out of the gate, Piñataland has proven itself an incredible musical force. Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 1 is nothing less than a masterpiece." - Justin Vellucci, Delusions of Adequacy

"Eclectic...fascinating" - Dan Kaufman, The New Yorker

"The surprise is how melodiously their antique-garde music pulls off the absurdly ambitious historical concept." - Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice

"Lyrically rooted in the bohemian rags of Tom Waits and musically as expansive and lush as any Jon Brion production." - Erik Pepple, Sponic

"Piñataland isn't about rock and roll, it's about time-travel...this is a strange, unexpected and in many ways really wonderful album. Whatever you might be expecting from it, it's likely not to be what you thought it would be." - John Scalzi, Indiecrit

"History music that makes you smarter and a better person for listening to it." - Roctober Magazine

"Refreshingly original...Pinataland's penchant for historical perspective seems to know no bounds...the yearning folksy strum and woozy twang propel it beyond the realm of a tuneful history lesson. In their hands, it becomes a stirring meditation on the definably human theme of promises broken, of being fucked over by uncontrollable forces. That it's done to a searingly lonesome country-inflected twang, augmented by strings, tuba, piano and all manner of vintage instrumentation, is almost besides the point." - Allan Harrison, Splendid Magazine

A startling alchemy of strange-but-true history, haunting instrumentation, and sterling songwriting, Piñataland have become experts at conjuring the sad strangeness of history to life with violin, tuba, accordion, guitar and drums. The band's music, lurching from the epic and grandiose to the aching and elegiac, evokes some never-existing strain of pre-WWII chamber-rock.

They have performed in the dark underground of the historic Atlantic Avenue Subway Tunnel (underneath Atlantic Avenue and Court Streets in Brooklyn); on a loading dock at the New York Times Building (where they were celebrating - uninvited - the 5th anniversary of the Time's switch to color printing); the American Museum of Natural History's Margaret Mead Film Festival (in honor of onetime museum resident Ota Benga); the Thomas Edison Historic Site (where they demonstrated wax cylinder recording), and, of course, Coney Island. The band has also been featured on NPR's All Songs Considered, performed on New Jersey's famed WFMU and mounted their own multi-media show in 2001 at HERE Theater in NYC.

Pinataland is the best new band I've heard in along time. Their song subjects are weird. They're lyrics are strange. They're instumentation is idiosyncratic. They've got some of the catchiest tunes and rythms I've ever heard. In short they're great!! I'll be listening to this CD for a long time and looking for their next one beginning tomorrow.

I am really glad I picked up this CD. Heard the track Velocity on a ReadyMade magazine compilation. What I like is the thought that went into the album and the interaction it requires of the listener. I can't just let the album play in the background. I want to listen closely to the historical song-intros and the lyrics. And the music seems perfect for each song.

HEARD IT ON NPR WEEKEND SATURDAY & HAD TO HAVE IT. REALLY ENJOY THE UNUSUAL APPROACH. MUSIC IS GOOD. EVEN MY 20 YR COLLEGE STUDENT MALE CHILD WAS REAL IMPRESSED!!! I LENT IT TO HIM & IT 2 WEEKS TO GET IT BACK.

If you're going to make a concept album, Pinataland teaches us, go big and keep your mind open to the possibilities. There's a little Tom Waits grit here, a little TMBG geek-boy erudition there, huge amounts of heart, and great found-sound insertions throughout. The musical equivalent of the nonfiction ordinary-household-item-has-impact-throughout-history genre, and both fun and rewarding in the same trivia-made-good way. More thinky-pop from Pinataland, please!

The hook in "Songs for the Forgotten Future Vol. 1" is no secret: the historical element. The songs here are inspired by the greatest hopes of the past; most of them based on a specific element of history, some with ignominy or gravity, and others with amazement at human accomplishments that give on the sense that Big Things are coming, maybe a little unimpeded, but definitely hopeful.
Hindsight doesn't hurt these songs one bit. All 10 tracks are great and each one will be looping away in your player of choice-- "1939" is a favorite out of the gate, but the tantalizing mystery behind "Devil's Airship" keeps it in heavy rotation, and the distracted astronaut narrating "Velocity" is my favorite. Since you'll probably be stimulated to learn more about the events in question, or perhaps refresh your memory, I'd say you get more than 100% of your money's worth if you buy this CD.

In a music world awash in solipsistic love songs, Pinataland dares to dig into the emotional power of forgotten history. Sure, at first you'll just be impressed by their intelligence, but this isn't school-house rock. Nor does it try to rench the heart strings like a Steven Spielberg movie. Pinataland is not out to memorialize the mass-killings that we're preprogrammed to weep for. These are moments that are both smaller and more vast. Perhaps by virtue of being all-but-forgotten, we are drawn into the hope and futility of all human endeavor. The fact that all this is done to gorgeous instrumentation is not incidental, but rather part-and-parcell of the group's aching beauty.